General Watercooling question- help!

Tempus · 08-17-2004, 10:59 AM

I was pondering the impact of the tubing material on system flow rates and I came to the realization that I have no idea whats really going on.

In sum, my question is - are the collisions of the water molecules with the tubing walls elastic or inelastic (assume clearflex or tygon) ? And (part 2) what effect would changing the tubing (cheaper stuff, going all copper piping, etc) have on it?

If the collisions are inelastic (and I assume that they are) then the amount of tubing (actual length used) results in lower flow rates / increased resistance simply because a portion of the energy is being used to press against the tubing.

Has anyone tried doing actual testing to determine whats what? I'd imagine that running a closed loop system with 10' of tubing and a flow meter and then comparing that with 100' would give some fairly solid data. I just don't have 100' of tubing.

I'm thinking that switching to copper tubing would decrease the resistance and yield a better performing product. I might try out a few of those to see.

Does anyone have a inexpensive flow meter that they can recommend getting?

Butcher · 08-17-2004, 11:05 AM

It's inelastic - you definitely increase the head requirement of a system with tubing runs - this is why people say to keep tubing short. If you're after lower friction tubing you might want to look into Tygon's teflon lined tubing - not only is teflon very low friction, it's almost completely chemically inert so you don't have to worry about additives eating your tubing.

Tempus · 08-17-2004, 11:11 AM

Ah, but the real quesiton is how inelastic? Is there a datasheet out there? It'd be alot easier to make a simulation to estimate performance (not my goal just how I think) if we had real numbers.

Tempus · 08-17-2004, 04:42 PM

bump......

bigben2k · 08-17-2004, 05:14 PM

You might want to lookup Newtonian fluids versus non-Newtonian fluids: the latter is elastic.

Water is a Newtonian fluid.

Mars · 08-17-2004, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tempus

Ah, but the real quesiton is how inelastic? Is there a datasheet out there? It'd be alot easier to make a simulation to estimate performance (not my goal just how I think) if we had real numbers.

Don't get me wrong, or anything but, on average a person is gonna use how much tubing? 10 feet max? You go ahead an do a test based on 10 feet of vinyl tubing compared to 10 feet of tygon and 10 feet of Clearflex and I guarantee you the flow differences would be none to miniscule. 9 out of 10 people will choose clearflex over tygon because of the price difference. 1 out of 5 people will choose tygon over clearflex because of a little bit more of a bend.

I recently did a thread on what tubing people use. I myself switched from vinyl to clearflex. To me, It's the best thing next to sliced bread. I got 12 feet of 1/2" clearflex 60 for $4.08 and will never go back to vinyl. I got 20 feet of vinyl for $15.00 and it was a big waste of money.

08-17-2004, 10:59 AM	#1
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	General Watercooling question- help! I was pondering the impact of the tubing material on system flow rates and I came to the realization that I have no idea whats really going on. In sum, my question is - are the collisions of the water molecules with the tubing walls elastic or inelastic (assume clearflex or tygon) ? And (part 2) what effect would changing the tubing (cheaper stuff, going all copper piping, etc) have on it? If the collisions are inelastic (and I assume that they are) then the amount of tubing (actual length used) results in lower flow rates / increased resistance simply because a portion of the energy is being used to press against the tubing. Has anyone tried doing actual testing to determine whats what? I'd imagine that running a closed loop system with 10' of tubing and a flow meter and then comparing that with 100' would give some fairly solid data. I just don't have 100' of tubing. I'm thinking that switching to copper tubing would decrease the resistance and yield a better performing product. I might try out a few of those to see. Does anyone have a inexpensive flow meter that they can recommend getting? __________________ Thou art God.

08-17-2004, 11:05 AM	#2
Butcher Thermophile Join Date: May 2001 Location: UK Posts: 1,064	It's inelastic - you definitely increase the head requirement of a system with tubing runs - this is why people say to keep tubing short. If you're after lower friction tubing you might want to look into Tygon's teflon lined tubing - not only is teflon very low friction, it's almost completely chemically inert so you don't have to worry about additives eating your tubing. __________________ Once upon a time, in a land far far away...

08-17-2004, 11:11 AM	#3
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	Ah, but the real quesiton is how inelastic? Is there a datasheet out there? It'd be alot easier to make a simulation to estimate performance (not my goal just how I think) if we had real numbers. __________________ Thou art God.

08-17-2004, 04:42 PM	#4
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	bump...... __________________ Thou art God.

08-17-2004, 05:14 PM	#5
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	You might want to lookup Newtonian fluids versus non-Newtonian fluids: the latter is elastic. Water is a Newtonian fluid. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

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